“So, you were a delivery man.” Kayle said as she walked alongside Adrian and Mike.

“Yes, I was.” Adrian responded.

“I imagined you were a PE teacher.” She added.

“PE teacher? How?” Adrian asked her.

“You are energetic, and you are always telling jokes, that sounds PE teacher-like to me.” Kayle justified.

“Following that train of thought, Axel would be the teacher.” Mike joined the conversation. “I figured Adrian would be a salaryman, or he had a boring desktop job.”

“I wish,” Adrian told. “My family couldn’t afford college or having student loans, and even then, the global situation wasn’t the best one.”

“How’s that?” Mike asked him.

“A pandemic,” Adrian responded. “Considering how humans evolved in my timeline, it was the worst-case scenario.”

“Ah, yes,” Kayle commented. “You said your species evolved to be more heat resistant.” She recalled a scene from yesterday when Aby was still sleeping. Adrian got his hand close to the bonfire to prove the difference in tolerance.

“But in exchange, our respiratory system suffered a downgrade.” Adrian added.

“Now that I think about it,” Mike told. “Wouldn’t you have delivery drones if your world was as fucked up as you said?”

“We do have those,” Adrian responded. “The problem of living in a metropolis is that there wasn’t a lot of space so they could land. To be eligible for drone delivery you had to have a small heliport, so you needed to have a yard, a balcony, or an open rooftop. Which they were difficult to come by. A lot of marketing in real-estate agencies was promoting drone-compatible housing.” And then he whispered something. “Those were a real-scam.”

There weren’t any encounters in the way to Czecheri as they stuck close to the river. Kayle was a bit frustrated by this because she wanted to use her [Smite] once more. Adrian wanted more experience to level up too. It was interesting how he stopped considering the mantises as foes, now no more than prey. It was true that in order to kill Adrian they would need an [Archimantis Occisor] as the normal ones, no matter their numbers, Adrian could outrun them.

The process was the same as before, once he arrived to Czecheri’s gates he showed the guards his guild copper identification. The guards were different than before, though. A tall strict-looking woman and a brown and wide man were the guards. The man wasn’t short, but next to his partner, he looked like a dwarf. Adrian thought if the guards rotated between gates as this was the third pair he saw. But then again, he didn’t know how many guards were needed in order to protect a town, so he went on his way.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It’s so… ugly.” Kayle said once they crossed the entrance to the city.

“Funny, Dale said something similar,” Adrian told. “And to be fair, medieval cities weren’t good looking in our world. A touristic photo from Berlin’s old district isn’t the norm for a medieval house.” Adrian remembered those rustic and cool-looking German houses from the medieval.

“Still,” Mike commented. “Look at this place. We, in some way, can see how the people from centuries ago lived.” He said with the enthusiasm of a historian.

“Yeah, I can see your point.” Kayle told, but she wasn’t a fan of the idea exactly.

Kayle tried to get in the lead but Adrian stopped her. Even if she wanted to explore the city, they should stay together. Also, Adrian was the one who knew where the guild was. Not that it was hidden, but still.

Before going out in a tour, Adrian and the rest went to the guild. They had to submit the mantis slaying quest and ask about the evolved one. The time was nearing noon, 11:59 a.m. showed on Adrian’s metaphysical clock. He had a let down as he could have got an exact hour if he had waited a bit, but he couldn’t control time. Anyhow, they queued for six minutes until it was their turn.

“Oh, hi there!” Adrian cheerfully said to the female officer.

“You know that it isn’t afternoon now, right?” She responded with sarcasm.

“Do tell me. If someone knows the time, it is me.” Adrian basically spoiled his most [Title] to the guild worker but she ignored it as a joke. “I came to deliver a quest and ask you a thing.” Adrian rose his mantis arm sack.

“I have a boyfriend.” The officer instantly answered.

“I think we had a tiny misunderstanding about what I wanted to ask.” Adrian told as he dropped the arm at the cloth on the ground and handed her the quest note.

“You don’t?” The clerk doubted.

“How many people try to flirt with you to be so… you.” Adrian wanted to say another word, something like viperine, but his mind went blank for a moment. The word was at the tip of his tongue but never reached the outside.

“Oh, wow thank you.” She used her sarcasm once again. “Anyway,” She started once again as it seemed that this adventurer was a tiny bit different from the others. “What did you wanted to ask?”

“I have found this bigger mantis, one with wings, called [Archimantis Homicida]. Do you know anything about it?” Adrian explained.

“Wait,” The officer said with surprise. “You have found an Occisor and you are alright?”

“Yes?” Adrian said.

“Didn’t you start as an adventurer two days ago?” She asked.

“Yes, I did,” Adrian answered. “But I did have some levels before registering.”

“Right,” The officer told. “You wanted to know about the Occisor. [Archimantis Occisor] is the evolved form of the [Archimantis Homicida]. They evolve at level 10 and are considerably more dangerous than their more basic counterparts.”

“I did notice that. It was a rough one. Fast, especially.” Adrian explained.

“Did you kill it? Wow.” For the first time, the officer left her bitter face and change to one of surprise. “I suppose you already have a class, then.”

“I do,” Adrian responded. “Do I get promoted?”

“Don’t get full of yourself.” The officer said. “It counts toward promotion, as questing does, but their body parts sell at a higher price.”

“Which are the good ones?” Adrian asked. “I certainly don’t want to carry the corpse of that large insect here.”

“Neither do I, believe me.” It seemed that some adventurers had done that before and didn’t end up well. “The wings and the scythes are the most valuable. If they are in a good state, I could give you fifty copper.”

“Wow.” Now it was Adrian’s turn to be surprised.

Adrian collected his reward of five copper and got out of the guild after not finding any interesting quest. ‘Offer and demand is real in this world too. Five copper for ten mantises, but fifty for a big one.’